Baton Rouge and Traffic (New Orleans, Shreveport: airport, moving to, design)

[WestbankNOLA]

Do you all think that Park-N-Rides/RideShare or GA/FL/TN style HOV restrictions could help? I know that most highways with HOVs usually have at least 3 general lanes, so doing it with 2 could make things worse up there. Park-N-Ride could be affective if people have an incentive to use it.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by MetroBTR

That's fine around the neighborhood. But people on the interstate are usually traveling farther than is practical by bike or by foot. And having a friend drive you still puts a car in traffic.

Touche.
I was mainly focused on the people in and between LSU and downtown, even Mid-City. They are the ones I feel would get the most benefit of riding the bus and don't feel like their daily commute involves the interstate do to the fact that most students stay in that general area and people normally don't need to travel to the suburbs. That is the main problem with peak hour traffic, people going south to Ascension and people going east to Livingston. I don't feel like a metro bus system would help all that much as I can't see a suburbanite ditching the Suburban (pun unintended ) for a CATS bus.

Originally Posted by WestbankNOLA

Do you all think that Park-N-Rides/RideShare or GA/FL/TN style HOV restrictions could help? I know that most highways with HOVs usually have at least 3 general lanes, so doing it with 2 could make things worse up there. Park-N-Ride could be affective if people have an incentive to use it.

The HOV lanes in Atlanta are not separated like the ones in Houston. Are you referring to that type of system? I'm not too familiar with the other as I've only spent time on the Florida Turnpike and don't recall if/how the HOV lanes were used.

If you mean the type in Atlanta, I would rather see the ones Houston has, where exits are spread out to encourage suburbanites to use them more often that people mainly traveling within the city. Then again, I doubt people will like the idea of paying to widen the portion between LA 1 and Acadian Thruway just for the purpose of HOV lanes they have to pay to use when if they widen them anyway, they won't have to pay. The section undergoing reconstruction should have excess room in the median for a HOV lane in either direction, but it wouldn't be out to Hwy 73 like it should be.

I would like an HOV lane in that new section but I don't think it would work for the entire stretch unless the citizens don't pay a penny for it.

Edit: Forgot about the Park and ride. Sounds like it would be good for plant workers and the like. Maybe it would spark interest in a metro-wide system. Although the major arteries in surrounding parishes would need improvement (Hwy 42, Hwy 73 and Airline Hwy). Gonzales would be a suitable city for an expanded bus system, it has a significant enough development pattern to have decent ridership numbers and the roads are in better condition to add bus stops and transit stations for people to walk to.

[WestbankNOLA]

Louisiana and Texas HOV lanes are usually physically seperated with their own exits, etc. Both states also like to charge you to use some of them.

Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee HOV lanes aren't physically seperated and you can enter and exit wherever the lines are dashed. Texas does this as well in Dallas.

There isn't room in BR to build seperated lanes so I suggested the second method.

[annie_himself]

They would have to be elevated lanes above the current lanes. There is no room once WB past the 10/12 split, for either type. Hence the need for construction, and nobody will accept a tax for something they will be charged for. There's room for one lane in each direction near the split and westbound to about Acadian where it drops down to 6 lanes but it would do more harm to funnel more congestion on less lanes for the purpose of adding a lane that is less traveled. There's more room on I-12 , I believe, for the latter choice.

[WestbankNOLA]

You could always just restrict the left lane during rush hour. That's how it works in Atlanta and Memphis. The only problem would be if not enough people used it and the other 2 lanes become even worse. They even have some in Dallas where they put in crossovers and use the left lane on the outbound side as an HOV lane for the inbound side during rush hour.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by WestbankNOLA

You could always just restrict the left lane during rush hour. That's how it works in Atlanta and Memphis. The only problem would be if not enough people used it and the other 2 lanes become even worse. They even have some in Dallas where they put in crossovers and use the left lane on the outbound side as an HOV lane for the inbound side during rush hour.

That's what I think would happen unless they were newly dedicated lanes that ran the entire length.

Does that cause for some minor construction? Would be interested to see how it would work in BR.

[MetroBTR]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Touche.
I was mainly focused on the people in and between LSU and downtown, even Mid-City. They are the ones I feel would get the most benefit of riding the bus and don't feel like their daily commute involves the interstate do to the fact that most students stay in that general area and people normally don't need to travel to the suburbs. That is the main problem with peak hour traffic, people going south to Ascension and people going east to Livingston. I don't feel like a metro bus system would help all that much as I can't see a suburbanite ditching the Suburban (pun unintended ) for a CATS bus.

I think we could debate the subject till something actually gets done about it...but I don't know if either of us will live that long. So many different factors to take into consideration.

In any case, I won't settle for the mediocrity that is now CATS


Let's hear what ya'll think of this proposed typical section for an elevated deck above the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. Regular lanes below, 2 HOV lanes on the upper deck, as well as commuter trains. Who knows if it would work for BR, just thought it was a neat proposal. Couldn't find a bigger version of it

[annie_himself]

Nah I couldn't debate this forever, at least without taking it to city officials and DOT.

That's what I would like to see, however the commuter trains wouldn't be a part unless more Fed money comes this way.

[WestbankNOLA]

Originally Posted by MetroBTR

Let's hear what ya'll think of this proposed typical section for an elevated deck above the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. Regular lanes below, 2 HOV lanes on the upper deck, as well as commuter trains. Who knows if it would work for BR, just thought it was a neat proposal. Couldn't find a bigger version of it

Now that I think about it, elevated would probably be the easiest to to set up in BR. There isn't that much room needed to put it in except for entrances and exits.

[annie_himself]

Holden: Loop opponents 'resorting to misinformation'

Mayor Kip Holden issued a statement today in an attempt to set the record straight on the much-debated interstate loop around Baton Rouge, in advance of public hearings on the project slated for next week. "Differences of opinion can be worked through, but it is unfortunate that some loop opponents are resorting to misinformation," says Holden, who serves as chairman of the Capital Area Expressway Authority. Holden says opponents of the loop are alleging several far-fetched ideas in an attempt to kill the project. Among them, he says, they claim the project would require as much as a half-mile-wide corridor; that private property will be confiscated for the project without fair compensation; that it would create a "Great Wall of China" in Central; and that it would not ease traffic congestion. Holden says all these claims are false. "These stories would be laughable if they weren’t so damaging to any efforts to address traffic congestion in and around Baton Rouge," Holden says. "Opponents do not offer any positive solutions, only a hope that we can live with the status quo." Holden points out that the North Bypass portion of the loop has been in the state’s master plan for many years, and that traffic studies show that segment of the project could be built and paid for by toll revenue. Public hearings are scheduled next week in each of the five parishes that would be impacted by the loop. Read a recent Daily Report story to see all the details on the upcoming public hearings here.